Was playing Don’t Break the Ice today and I was wondering if someone could explain the science concept behind what holds the ice pieces together. Preferably a little deeper than just “pressure of pieces in a small space.” I looked online but it didn’t help me out very much lol.
Eta this is literally to explain it to a 5 year old
In: 446
I feel like the best way to go in depth is to get mathematical.
The maximum force of friction that can be experienced between 2 objects is defined as:
F (friction) = μ * R
μ is something called the coefficient of friction, and in this case just think of it as some number, seeing as it will be constant. Don’t worry about it. R, however, is something called the reaction force, and it’s the force that makes it so that if you press on a table, your hand doesn’t go through it. The harder you press your hand on that table, the larger the force you are applying to the surface of that table. So, the surface of the table pushes back with a greater force, equal to the force you’re pushing down with.
In short, the more pressure you apply to something, the greater the reaction force between you and whatever you’re applying pressure to. A greater reaction force means a larger frictional force.
In “Don’t Break the Ice”, there is friction between the ice blocks. As long as the maximum frictional force (μ * R) acting upwards is greater than or equal to the gravitational force on each of the blocks acting downwards, the blocks will not move/fall.
In the game, when you remove an ice block, you take away some of the compressive force from the board/whatever it is. So, you reduce the frictional force between all of the blocks. So, the forces holding the blocks up gets smaller and smaller, while the force pulling them down stays the same.
Sorry if this was long winded or too complex. I did my best to make it simple.
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